Friends of the Millbrae Library ● SEPTEMBER • 2008 • VOL 30 • NR 1FML NewsText only edition County's New Director of Library Services By Anne-Marie Despain, Interim Director of Library ServicesIt is my pleasure to announce that Martín Gómez will be joining the San Mateo County Library as Director of Library Services. I am excited that someone as talented as Mr. Gómez will be leading the organization and believe his experience fits well within our organizations strategic plans and initiatives. Mr. Gómez brings over 30 years of experience in leading library services. He recently spent four years as President of the Urban Libraries Council which supports research, continuing education, programs and special events designed to strengthen the public library as an essential part of urban life. He was also Executive Director of the Friends & Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Public Library and Director of the Oakland Public Library. Mr. Gómez holds a Masters in Library Science from the University of Arizona, Tucson and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is past President of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish speaking. The author of several articles, he frequently speaks both nationally and internationally on public libraries. According to Mr. Gómez, "I'm excited about the opportunity to return to local library service. The communities served by the San Mateo County Library System are diverse and this position gives me the opportunity to work with local leaders and an excellent team to make it a showcase in all ways." Please join me in welcoming Mr. Gómez to San Mateo County Library when he arrives in November. FML Website By Suzanne Medrano, WebmasterThe Millbrae Library is a busy place with many activities, events, and opportunities available each and every week. We would like to thank ICDSoft.com for hosting our website . . . www.millbraelibraryfriends.org. Please visit our website for event schedules. You won't want to miss an exciting program. The Friends of the Millbrae Library News will be posted online. At the January renewal we will offer members the option to opt-out of receiving it by mail. Members will receive an email letting them know as soon as the newsletter is available online, so please keep your e-mail address up-to-date with us. President’s Letter By Bob MillerIt is an honor for me to have been elected to serve as your FML President. My first wish, as author of this column, is to commend, congratulate and thank two fabulous ladies, our outgoing co-presidents, Wendy Maynard and Judi Sullivan. They have led The Friends as President or Co-president for as long as I have been on the Board and their leadership has been innovative, unselfish, and effective. Their work for FML has been tireless. Our beautiful new library and all its patrons are the beneficiaries. Wendy remains as Secretary and Judi will continue on the Board, managing our Book Store and book sales. Thank you Wendy and Judi for all that you do and all that you have done. Speaking of book sales, I am pleased to report that the proceeds from our last two book sale events totaled $1,202. Thanks to all of our many volunteers who worked so hard to make these events so successful. It’s work, but its fun. At our August Board meeting, Millbrae Library’s on-site manager, Kathleen Beasley, submitted the library’s annual “Wish List”. The items are library enhancements not allowed for in the library budget. It included additions to library collections (Foreign language, best sellers, children’s books and textbooks for our Homework Center), Programs (adults, teens and children’s), Tutor’s salary and supplies for our Homework Center, plus desirable furniture and equipment. The FML Board approved a budget of $68,350 to pay for these needs. As always, we wish keep our members informed on the fiscal affairs of FML and how its funds are applied. To continue to fund these enhancements which make our library so great, we rely on our membership. It is so important that each of us renew our membership each year and to be a recruiter for the Friends. Each of us should encourage our friends, relatives and neighbors to join and become active in FML’s great programs and activities. There are other opportunities to support FML financially. You can contribute larger amounts in the form of donations, endowments and bequests and you will be honored on the Millbrae Library Donor Wall and in the Donor Book . And since FML is a 501(c)(3) organization, your contributions are tax deductible. Millbrae’s annual Art & Wine festival, sponsored by our Chamber of Commerce attracted thousands of people over the Labor Day weekend. Volunteers from the Friends staffed the Chamber’s booth, selling souvenir beer, wine and champagne glasses and beverage tickets. This was not a fund raiser for us. We did it for the Chamber. But it was a great public relations success. We met many people and distributed many of our Friends brochures and when we closed our booth at the close of the event we got a standing ovation from the Chamber Staff. Again, it was work but we all had fun. Thanks to all of you who volunteered in this fun event. You were great. The Friends of the Millbrae Library welcomes our new San Mateo County Library Director of Library Services, Martin J. Gomez. He replaces Victoria L. Johnson, who died of breast cancer in May, at her home in Carmel. We look forward to meeting and working closely with Mr. Gomez in the years to come. (a picture of Wendy and Judi is included) Book Signing Event By Elizabeth SorThe Friends of the Millbrae Library cosponsored a special book-signing event at the library’s community room on Saturday, August 2. Renowned local Chinese-American author/newswoman, Fang-chih Yang, introduced her new autobiography, The Sky Is Not All Rainbow, My Road to Recovery from Breast Cancer. An enthusiastic audience of more than 40 people attended. The majority of the evening’s presentation was in Mandarin Chinese. This was the first time the Friends has sponsored a program solely for the Chinese-speaking community. Ms Yang is a recently retired, Bay Area reporter/editor for World Journal, an international daily newspaper for Chinese-speaker readers. Ten years ago, she was diagnosed with second-stage breast cancer. In her journal, she describes her experience in the three-stage treatment and how she coexists with cancer and now lives a healthy, very active, life. (a group picture is included) She is the President of Northern California Chinese Writers' Association, and has a blog in World Journal Web News. Her favorite pastime is travel. Like her writing, Ms Yang's talk was candid, straightforward and full of humor. What impressed the audience the most was her attitude dealing with the disease. She observed, “Other people say, ‘Why me?’ but I say, ‘Why NOT me’.” One Book, One Community
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